Incidence Of Birth Defects And Its Association With Maternal Age And Multiple Pregnancies At Nnamdi Azikiwe University Teaching Hospital (Nauth) Nnewi: A Retrospective Study
Ugochukwu Samuel Aguwa
Anatomy Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus
Samuel Nwokike
Anatomy Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus
Doris Kasarachi Ogbuokiri
Anatomy Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nnewi Campus
Matthew Ogbonnaya Nwankwo
College of Nursing Sciences, Amichi.
Tobechukwu, Timorthy Agoziem
College of Nursing Sciences, Amichi.
Keywords: Advanced maternal age, multiple pregnancies, birth defects
Abstract
Tremendous efforts have been made by scientists over the years to demystify the causes of birth defects. This study seeks to find any possible association with maternal age & multiple pregnancies with the frequency of birth defect. This retrospective study was carried out at Nnamdi Azikiwe Teaching Hospital (NAUTH) Nnewi within a 10-year period. The research design is a descriptive survey non-experimental research. After due application and permission from the hospital management, the maternity register of the hospital within the period of 2010 to 2019 was retrieved and the required information extracted. No personal patient data was handled and the data cannot be traced directly to any patient. All data obtained was analyzed using the statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.1 and the Microsoft Office Excel 2010. During the period under review, 7,997 babies were born in NAUTH. In these 7,997 deliveries were 766 multiple pregnancies. Also, during the considered period 36 birth defects were recorded. Among the mothers that gave birth to defected babies, 4 were 18-28 years; 7 were 29-39 years while the remaining 26 were 40 years and above. This study shows that prevalence of birth defect occurs mostly in mothers aged over 40 Years. Multiple pregnancies on the other hand contributed to only two percent of the birth defects. In spite of the underlying mechanisms, these findings confirm the negative impact of advanced maternal ages on the outcome of pregnancy. These results providing evidence-based knowledge on the implications of late marriage and multiple pregnancies necessitated by drugs or artificial reproductive technology on birth outcome